


To Do Just That

by Kerkerian



Series: Danny and Matt [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Aftermath, Danny-whump, Developing Relationship, Episode: s05e18 Pono Kaulike (Justice for All), Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missing Scene, divergence from canon, mcdanno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerkerian/pseuds/Kerkerian
Summary: After watching the episode I thought it was highly unrealistic that Danny wasn't in worse shape after the beating he received. And I was disappointed that we didn't see how he got home.





	To Do Just That

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Five-0.

 

“Danno.” The voice was soft, tender even, and something about that seemed wrong. But then, everything was currently wrong- his whole body was sore and aching, he felt as if he had been hit by a truck. He must have spaced out, as he wasn't sure what had happened and why he didn't seem able to keep his eyes open. He also didn't know where he was, but he had an inkling that he didn't necessarily want to be there. And then there was a hand on his shoulder and another one on his face, their tentative touch as gentle as the accompanying voice: “Danno. Are you with me?”

 _Steve_ , Danny's addled brain provided after a moment. It took a real effort, but he finally managed to blink his eyes open again, and the sight of McGarrett's worried face finally triggered his recollection of what had happened and where he was. And why. He just didn't know how he had survived the guards' attack. He was still lying on the ground, but this wasn't the room with the telephone. _Grace_. He had talked to Grace, and now Steve was here. He really should find out if and how those two had some superpowers he didn't yet know about. He tried to sit up, Steve's hands immediately there to support him, but the room tilted unpleasantly as soon as Danny was even remotely upright, and spikes of pain shot through his head. He felt sick and his fiercely aching ribs didn't allow for him to take deep breaths. He was only half aware how Steve, who had been crouching next to him, quickly sat down so Danny could lean against him, how his friend gently but firmly held on to him until the nausea and the tremors which were shaking his body subsided somewhat and he was breathing a little easier.

“That's it,” Steve kept murmuring, “just breathe, Danno, I've got you. Just breathe, you'll be okay.”

“'m not dead,” Danny eventually all but croaked, his voice hoarse.

“No, you're not.” Nothing betrayed McGarrett's agitation, but inwardly, he was fuming. He wanted to burn the place down as it was, strangle all the guards before that, but he kept himself in check because it wasn't going to help Danny if he lost it now.

It had nearly killed him when he and the team had had to return home from Colombia without Danny; losing him was unimaginable. And yet, this had been a close one.

Unaware that he was doing so, he reinforced his grip around his friend until Danny groaned: “Ow! Careful, you brute!”

If Danny was able to complain on name-calling level, he was okay, Steve told himself. He had to be okay, despite the fact that he wouldn't even be able to sit if it wasn't for his friend, despite the fact that he was still shivering, probably from shock. Steve hadn't even gotten a proper look at him yet, but it didn't matter. He was alive, and Steve didn't plan on letting him out of his sight ever again. Or at least not until they were back in Hawaii.

“Sorry. I'll take you home now, okay, Danno?”

“Best thing I've heard today,” Danny muttered. With the help of Steve and Chin (whose voice Danny had heard but only vaguely registered in the background before), he got to his feet; walking was a tottery affair though, and he wouldn't have managed on his own.

 

In the car which took them to the airfield where their machine was on standby, Danny dozed off again. Steve, who had opted for sitting next to him, kept one hand on his arm to either keep him upright or reassure him or maybe even himself, Chin couldn't make up his mind about that. McGarrett was wearing what Danny called his Aneurysm Face, which only changed when Danny, upon arrival, immediately opened his eyes as Steve addressed him in a low voice.

Max was already waiting for them on the steps; Steve hadn't wanted to take any risks, therefore he had asked the ME to accompany Chin and him, and Max hadn't hesitated for a second. Since he held Danny in high esteem, he had readily agreed to help if need be. Now Steve was utterly relieved that Max was there, since Danny really didn't look too well, and he faltered a few times while he Steve helped him climb on board. In the car, Steve hadn't been able to take his eyes off of him; he was bruised and bloody and looked exhausted even with his eyes closed. It took all that Steve had to leave his side in order to go and start up the plane.

 

Half an hour later, Max had finished his very thorough examination and Danny was finally allowed to sleep; Max had put him on two different IVs to rehydrate him and relieve the various pains throughout his body and treated his injuries as best as he could.

“Detective Williams has sustained an alarming multitude of subdural hematomas and contusions,” he told Steve and Chin, who had taken the copilot's seat. “He also has a concussion which in my opinion can be classified as a grade II, but I might be wrong, of course. From what you told me and from what I observed for myself, however, the symptoms are quite conclusive.”

Chin threw Steve a “Be patient, it's Max”- glance, therefore McGarrett reigned himself in: “That it?”

“If you are referring to the extent of Detective Williams' injuries, no, that wasn't all.”

Max didn't seem to notice Steve's impatience. “He's got two possibly fractured ribs in the front and one on his back, near the spine. Furthermore, I can't entirely rule out any internal injuries.”

Steve, whose heart had already been sinking, turned his head around so sharply he made himself wince: “Why?”

Max inclined his head a little, obviously taken aback by this strong reaction: “Considering the severity with which he obviously has been beaten, it's rather likely. So we should take him to the hospital immediately upon arrival; I'd rather make sure that I didn't overlook anything,” he simply said.

After a moment, Steve nodded. “You're right. Thank you, Max.”

 

As soon as it was safe to put the plane on auto-pilot, Steve told Chin to get him if he needed him, then went to check on Danny. He was looking very pale where he wasn't bruised now that the blood had been removed, and to Steve, he looked entirely too fragile. Feeling strangely defeated, Steve sat down next to his friend and tried to decide where he could touch him without hurting him any further. In the end, he settled for taking Danny's hand in his. As long as Danny had been in that prison, Steve had told himself that Danny'd get through it somehow, that he was after all made of much sterner stuff than some people might give him credit for; it was the only way he could bear the notion of his best friend alone in that hell hole. But when he had seen it today, had found Danny unconscious in what one couldn't by rights call a cell, since it actually was nothing more than a dark, unlit hole, dirty and stuffy, he had been shocked. It was different when it concerned himself, but Danny- he couldn't see him hurt, _hated_ the idea that anyone laid even a finger on him. Danny was the opposite to his own darkness- where Steve considered himself as a kind of lost soul, apparently unable to live a normal life which was partly because he simply didn't want to but also partly because of everything which had happened to his family, Danny was someone who, despite his oftentimes grumpy demeanour, made the world a better place simply because of how he ticked. He didn't put his own welfare first and had a much softer core than one might have expected. He was tough, but he was also caring and sympathetic, even though he didn't like to show his feelings- his true, _important_ feelings, Steve corrected himself with an involuntary smile; other than that, he admittedly wore his heart on his sleeve, especially in the car. But the things that really mattered to him, he kept to himself. He was much quieter than usual whenever something was bothering him, sombre even. Steve thought back to the day Charlie was born, and how awful Danny had looked, yet how much of an effort he had made not to show how hurt he was, how much it was taking out of him that the baby after all wasn't his. Steve still got angry at Rachel whenever he thought about it, wondering if she had ever told Danny the truth if Charlie hadn't gotten sick. Well, the boy did look a lot like Danny, therefore his friend might have figured it out on his own eventually, maybe had already done so before the diagnosis had thrown everything off kilter. And yet. Danny being the only possible donor had tipped the scales in his favour afterwards, and it was amazing to see how quickly he and Charlie became acquainted, how apparently effortlessly the kid accepted Danny as his dad, how much at ease Danny was with the children when Charlie and Grace were with him.

 

Danny's voice startled Steve out of his thoughts: “Steve,” he rasped, his voice still hoarse and very soft.

Without letting go of Danny's hand, Steve got to his feet, leaning over his friend: “You okay, Danno?”

“Shouldn't you be flying the plane, Babe?”

Steve grinned: “Yeah, I should. Chin really wanted to give it a go, though, so I let him.”

Danny closed his eyes again: “Not funny,” he muttered. “Steve.” But there was a little pressure on Steve's hand, and Steve squeezed back.

 

As soon as Danny had been taken away to be x-rayed in the hospital, Steve took out his cell phone, told himself to not think about the whole Charlie debacle but to focus at the situation at hand and called Rachel. Briefly and to the point he told her what had transpired, leaving out the details about Marco Reyes, and asked her to talk to Grace, to reassure her that Danny was all right and she would be able to see him soon. Steve knew that no matter how much Danny longed to see his daughter, he didn't want to scare her. Therefore, both of them would have to wait for a few days.

And of course, Grace was one of the first things Danny asked about once Steve allowed to see him, which was only on the following day- admittedly, Max had been right to be cautious, since Danny's spleen was ruptured, evidence of the violence he had been submitted to. It had been evening when they arrived, so Steve waited until long after midnight for anyone to tell him any news. The nurses gave up on trying to send him home at one point, and despite his own fatigue, he kept pacing around the waiting room until the surgeon who had operated on Danny came out to tell him that his friend was going to be okay.

He was only allowed to see Danny in the morning, however, therefore he spent the rest of the night dozing on a couch in the waiting room.

 

Danny felt like he was floating. It was okay at first, but after a while he began to wonder about the where and the what. Waking up not knowing where one was or what had happened never bode well. He tried to focus, concentrate on his surroundings, which wasn't easy being as drugged up as he was, but eventually he registered the sounds in the background; hospital, then.

“Danno.”

With an effort, he opened his eyes; a familiar figure floated into his line of vision, then he felt warmth around his hand.

“S'eve.”

“Yes, Danno, it's me. Welcome back.”

Danny blinked because Steve looked blurry. “W's happ'n?”

“We brought you home from Colombia,” Steve replied, always one for telling the truth, “and you had to have surgery on your spleen because you were bleeding internally.”

Danny closed his eyes; Colombia. Now he remembered. Hopefully, this wasn't just a hallucination and he wasn't still stuck there. Using what little strength he currently had, he squeezed Steve's hand and felt his friend respond; that was good, meaning he was really here, and Steve was with him. Steve meant security.

“Grace,” he then managed, though his throat was parched and he felt himself fading rapidly.

“You'll see her soon,” Steve said softly. Danny only hummed and didn't open his eyes again. He was still worryingly pale where he wasn't bruised, and Steve couldn't bring himself to let go of his hand, not even when Danny obviously was out of it once more.

 

Danny had to stay in the hospital for a week, and Steve spent a lot of that time with him. Chin, Kono and Grover had been waiting when Steve had left Danny's room in order to go home and shower; they also dropped by every day to see how things were, but apart from that, they were covering for their two absent colleagues. They understood that Steve wanted to be with Danny, no questions asked.

Danny wasn't doing too well at first, he was feverish and took some time to respond to the antibiotics he was receiving. When he woke up for the next few times after first talking to Steve, he wasn't entirely lucid and what he said didn't make much sense, which downright scared McGarrett. When Rachel called him in the evening of that day, he was glad that she hadn't brought Gracie over.

Things were only beginning to look up on the third day when the fever decreased and Danny slowly lost that ghastly pallor. He immediately recognized Steve when he woke up, and his speech was coherent again,

“Grace,” being the first word he said.

“She's not been here yet,” Steve told him, “since I didn't think you'd want her to see you like this.”

“That bad?” Danny's voice was still rather weak, but to Steve, it sounded lovely nevertheless.

“Bad enough. I still think you're pretty, though.” Steve grinned.

Danny half-heartedly rolled his eyes: “So when-”

“As soon as you want,” Steve said appeasingly, only adding _now that you don't look half-dead anymore_ in his mind.

 

Steve had to wait outside while a doctor assessed his partner; the last few days definitely weren't something he wanted to repeat, ever. And it had opened his eyes somewhat; he felt like a prize idiot that it had had to come to this before he finally realized what he had to do. How many times did they have to rescue each other by now? How many times had one of them ended up in a hospital? He couldn't count it, but it shouldn't have taken him so long to figure things out.

He once more felt an overwhelming sense of relief when he was allowed back into the room and saw how much better Danny looked in comparison to the previous days, if still tired.

“Hey, Buddy,” Steve said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the mattress. “Doc pleased with your progress?”

Danny sighed:“He says my vitals are improving. He did not allow me to leave.”

“Well, it might be a bit early for that. But I'm glad you're feeling better.”

Danny regarded him fondly: “And even better than you, apparently.”

“Me? I'm not the patient this time.”

“No, but. You look knackered.”

“Yeah... comes with sleeping on hospital couches,” Steve said airily.

Danny frowned: “You don't have to stay here all the time,” he said, and Steve could have kicked himself.

“Hey, I'm not complaining,” he therefore replied, choosing his next words carefully: “And I couldn't have left you alone, Danno. I'm so sorry about this whole mess.”

“Not your fault, Babe.” Danny's gaze was sympathetic.

“I should've been there with you.”

“How could you possibly have done that?”

“I'm a SEAL. I always find a way.” Fresh anger welled up in Steve, and it showed on his face.

“Yeah well, to every rule there's an exception, isn't that what people say?”

"People are stupid." Dismayed, Steve reached for Danny's hand again.

“This a thing now?” Danny smiled a little.

Steve cleared his throat, aware of his suddenly frantically beating heart; backing down was not an option, but oh God, what if he got this entirely wrong?

“Yeah,” he therefore said nervously, clearing his throat again. “I mean, no, it's not. It might be though, if I got to decide things on my own. Which I don't, so...” He stopped, horrified by how quickly it seemed to get out of hand.

Danny's eyebrows crept up: “What are you talking about?”

Steve opened his mouth, closed it again, swallowed, and finally kicked himself into speaking: “I want to ask you out.”

There, he said it. Now where was the hole in the ground he could dive into?

Danny stared at him for what felt like an eternity, and Steve began to sweat.

“Out out?” Danny finally asked. “On-a-date out?”

“Yep,” Steve began, quickly talking on, “I realized once more how much you mean to me and that losing you would have meant the end of the world. My world. And the worst thing about that is that this isn't the first time I thought I'd lose you, or the first time I thought I'd die and never see you again, and that I thought about lost opportunities every time, but I never did something about it afterwards. And now, after these past few days, I must be daft if I didn't at least ask.”

For another long moment, nothing happened. The silence reverberated through Steve's nerves, but then he felt how Danny squeezed his hand. He hadn't even realized that he was still holding on to his friend. Now he looked down, frowning, unsure what it meant until his gaze returned to Danny's face. Danny was smiling, a true smile that made his tired eyes light up: “You stole my thunder. I was just going to solemnly thank you for rescuing me,” he said.

“Er... sorry?” Steve replied.

Danny now grinned: “Just yanking your chain. Yours was better, anyway.”

Steve was still frowning: “Am I missing something here? I just told you something potentially life-changing, something which came from the bottom of my heart.”

Danny shook his head but quickly stopped, wincing a little and turning serious again: “Sorry. Still a bit loopy.” He squeezed Steve's hand once more: “I'm actually glad you asked.”

For a moment or two, McGarrett wasn't entirely sure that he had heard right. “Wh- really?”

“Really.” Danny's eyes slowly roamed over Steve's face, taking in the all the concern that had accumulated over the past few days, all the affection he read in his features. “Because I never knew how to do just that.”

Steve stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds, then he laughed with relief: “You... okay! Great, that's... great!”

"I think so too." Danny was beautiful when he smiled, even now, covered in bruises as he was.

"When did you first... not ask me?" Steve wanted to know.

"Oh, probably about right after we met."

"I thought you thought I was insane."

"I _did_ think so. But you were also attractive. Still are. Both things." His gaze softened: "You didn't stop growing on me though."

Steve's stomach was full of butterflies all of a sudden. "We're idiots, the both of us, " he declared. "We wasted so much time!"

Danny considered this: "At least it means we're sure of what we want," he said, "after all these years." Which was such a typical Danno-thing to say.

Steve shook his head, looking Danny over with a happy smile: “I love you, Danno.”

“Love you, too, Babe. For the record, though: I'm not going anywhere that serves Pineapple Pizza or something similarly harebrained.”

"We'll see about that."

"No, we won't..."

 

The End

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm not a Native Speaker, therefore I apologize for any mistakes.


End file.
